ELIAS: Big changes for state political watchdog

From the moment it was created as part of the 1974 Proposition 9 political reform initiative,
California's Fair Political Practices Commission
has operated on the presumption that politicians and their most active campaign aides and backers should never be fully trusted.

But that underlying approach has seemed to change gradually under the leadership of the agency's current chairwoman, former Santa Clara County Counsel Ann Ravel, appointed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Sure, the FPPC still assesses significant fines when wrongdoing is proved ---- but they often come long after any harm from a campaign law violation can be undone. The latest big fine was a $30,000 levy against former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one of his ballot measure committees, which spent $1.1 million on television ads during Schwarzenegger's 2009 budget negotiations with legislators. That fine came this spring, years too late to mitigate the effects of that illegal spending.

There was also a $111,500 fine levied in December against a Pinole city councilman who participated at least 16 times in governmental decisions that benefited a company that used his services in his private life.

But plenty has changed, with the commission looking far more politician-friendly. The latest example of this came in mid-March, when a 3-2 commission majority led by Ravel ruled in an Orange County case that it's OK for local elected officials to vote on their own prospective appointments to government boards and commissions that pay per diem expenses or other stipends.

Previously, conflict-of-interest rules prevented city council members or county supervisors from voting to name themselves to panels such as water districts or air quality boards that sometimes pay more than the elected positions they hold.

The commission also no longer makes public cases it is considering until after they've been decided, a big change from its previous practice. That now leaves voters in the dark about claims of illegal donations and other shady campaign practices they've been told about for the past few years even before the cases were decided.

It's important that voters know such accusations because politicians and their consultants often break the rules in order to win elections, even if they know they'll endure some negative headlines later. That's because immediate public notice of accusations against politicians and their operatives can be a deterrent against dirty or corrupt politics, including false or misleading ads and accepting illegal or excessive campaign donations.

Not publicizing charges against politicians and their campaigns until they're decided is a bit like not revealing indictments or charges against accused criminals until after their trials.

One who disapproves of the new FPPC chairwoman's approach is the immediate past chairman, Dan Schnur, a longtime Republican political operative who now directs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.

Schnur, one-time press secretary for former Gov. Pete Wilson and former presidential candidate John McCain, says it may be inconvenient for politicians when accusations against them are posted online, but "the inconvenience of the politicians is not as important as the interests of the public."